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March 2, 2011

Papelbon, Aceves Shine; Beckett Feeling Better

Jonathan Papelbon pitched the fifth inning of yesterday's 5-0 win over the Twins. Six pitches, six strikes, three outs. "I felt as locked in as I probably am going to get all spring."

On the second batter, third baseman Brent Dlugach dove for a bunted ball and dislocated his left shoulder. Francona: "You could tell right away. [Papelbon] even said he kind of heard it."

Jon Lester began the game with two scoreless innings; one hit, one walk, one strikeout. He threw 27 pitches. ... Alfredo Aceves threw two potatoes. (AA: "It means zeros on the scoreboard.")

After suffering a mild concussion, Josh Beckett is avoiding all physical activity. "I don't even think they want me watching too much TV." Beckett will skip his next start, which had been set for tomorrow.

I feel all right. ... I think getting rid of some of the headache stuff that I had yesterday [Monday] is probably good. ... Yesterday was kind of nerve-wracking, because going up and down stairs was pretty tough.

Adrian Gonzalez took 25 swings off the tee and 35 via soft toss, and is close to hitting in the cage. ... Mike Cameron is 3-for-6 in two games. ...

Jarrod Saltalamacchia has been spending a ton of time with each pitcher, developing a rapport. "It's like a marriage but not. ... You're going to have your disagreements. You're going to have your arguments." (I hope to post an interview with Salty soon.)

John Lackey pitches this afternoon against Atlanta, with Scott Atchison and Hideki Okajima among the relievers.

8 comments:

It's creepy that Beckett has a concussion. There was a speaker at our college last week who has become a big spokesperson about the risks of concussions in sports. (I didn't go hear him, but Harvey did.) As we were discussing this, I said to Harvey, "Well, concussions seem to be less of a problem in baseball than football or lots of other sports, especially now that batters wear batting helmets." So much for that observation...

Dislocated shoulder is bad news in my experience. Out once, it's more likely to pop out again, range of motion is restricted, and in the end surgery might be needed to keep it from slipsliding around pretty much at will.